Ebon's Story
by KzBoy
Summary: Weiss is touring her father's company when she meets a faunus named Ebon, who tells her his story.
1. Context

This fic is based on two post by /u/h0m3st4r on /r/RWBY

Here is a link to his original posts, I recommend you read them first for context:

(r/RWBY/comments/4f0e7p/whose_line_is_it_saturday_april_16_2016/d24x4f6)Neon: "Hey. Look who decided to show up!"

Weiss visits faunus-sensitivity training:

Weiss: "Excuse me. Aren't you that girl from Team FNKI?"

Neon: "That's right. I'm Neon, by the way."

Weiss: "..."

Neon: "Come on. Sit down." [pulls out a chair next to her]

Weiss: [sits down beside Neon and listens to the teacher drone on] "So, if you don't mind my asking, why are you here? You're a faunus."

Neon: "I know. I just wanted to see what they teach here. Why are you here?"

Weiss: "Pretty much the same reason. That and I'm going to tour the company next week."

Neon: "...I've heard of the faunus labor in your father's company. All the horror stories, I mean."

Weiss: "So, your family has issues with my father too. Why am I not surprised?"

Neon: "Yeah. Specifically my brother, Ebon."

Weiss: "Ebon?"

Neon: "Yeah." [holds her hand above her head] "He's about yay tall, has dirty orange hair, and he's missing an eye." [lowers her hand] "He (ahem) 'works' in the mines."

Weiss: "When was the last time you saw him?"

Neon: "I don't know. It's been too long for me to remember."

Weiss: [frowns in pity] "What should I do if I see him?"

Neon: "Listen to his story. It's what I'd do."

* * *

(r/RWBY/comments/4dbz4m/icebergxxias/d1pmd8r)

The night was young, and Weiss had finished touring what was soon to be her company. The recent Grimm attack on Atlas had taken its toll on many, including her and her sister, Winter.

Just when she had finally started mending fences with her father, she had learned that he died defending the city he called home. Then came the news of Dr. Polendina added to the list of casualties, the discovery of the spying Grimm parasite embedded in Penny 2.0's head, and whispers of the ghost of Pyrrha Nikos haunting the unified teams RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN. And on top of all of this, seeing just how far the Schnee Dust Company had fallen with her own eyes, from her chance meeting with Neon's one-eyed brother, Ebon, in the Schnee dust quarry, to reading the archives of business deals with anti-faunus groups and others in Atlas' criminal underworld, she didn't know if she could do as she promised. She didn't know if she could restore the Schnee family name.

And here she was, leaning on the railing of the balcony of her family's mansion and staring into the starlit sky.

"Ms. Schnee," said the butler behind her. "You have a visitor."

"Let them in," said Weiss over her shoulder.

The butler stepped aside, and along came Neptune, leaning on the balcony railing and staring into the same sky as Weiss, who took only passing notice of his presence.

"You miss your dad, don't you?" asked Neptune.

"How could you tell?" said Weiss.

"I heard you screaming 'No,' over and over again, for starters."

"I was that loud, huh?"

The two of them backed away from the railing and stood to face each other.

"You don't know if you can do it, do you?" asked Neptune.

"Do what?" said Weiss.

"Take over the company? Restore your family's name? Free the faunus 'laborers'? Make Penny cry any more? Take your pick."

Weiss couldn't help but crack an amused smile. "What? Am I that predictable?"

"Nah. I just see a lot of you in..." Neptune's shoulders began to sag. "...well, myself."

"How so?"

"Remember what I told you about my family back on the boat?"

"You mean before or after we were attacked?"

"Let's go with before."

Weiss cupped her hands behind her back and gently swirled her eyes inside their sockets. "...Are you telling me that you wanted to become a huntsman because you don't want anything to do with your family's name?"

Neptune sighed. "That was my initial reason. At first, I just wanted a chance to be myself. Somewhere along the line, I started enjoying being a hero. Seeing smiles on other people's faces, helping those who couldn't help themselves, and...and just...making a difference."

"But I take it that you couldn't shake the feeling that in the end, you're still Neptune Vasilias, right?"

"Pretty much."

"So, you made up that cool self image of yourself to hide from that?"

Neptune snickered. "Don't tell me you see some of me in yourself."

"How else would I figure it out? I mean, for the longest time, I didn't want anything to do with my father, but before I left for Mistral-"

"I know. I know. He apologized to you, you didn't believe him until Flynt talked with you, and then, Yang showed up, robo arm, Penny 2.0, and...you know the rest."

They both stared at the floor for a moment, and then looked back into each other's eyes.

"You do know that this means you'll eventually have to face your family again, right?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah, I know," said Neptune. "And knowing that, let me be the first to tell you this: you can do it."

Weiss paused to think over his words, and then waved them off. "You're just saying that."

"I'm serious. Whatever you've got on your plate with being the new president of the company, you can do it. And if you can face your flaws like that, then I can face mine too."

They shared a warm smile as they leaned together on the railing. There, Neptune's hand crept to Weiss'.

"But for now," asked Neptune, "you want to dance?"

Only then did Weiss notice Neptune's hand on hers. "I thought you said you couldn't dance," she softly objected.

"I've been taking lessons from Sun and Jaune."

"Then come on. Show me what you've got."

"With pleasure," Neptune replied, dragging her away from the railing.

Before either of them knew it, they were dancing the night away. For one brief moment, it seemed, they could be happy to just be their true selves. Happy to be free from the pains of the past. Happy to move on to a brighter future for the both of them and the world they lived in. Happy to just be alive.

"Neptune?" said Weiss, leaking a smile.

"Yeah?" asked Neptune.

"You're still bad at this."

* * *

These were used with permission from the original author /u/h0m3st4r as a jumping point for this story


	2. Chapter 1

Weiss was laying in bed, thinking back over her day. She had bid Neptune farewell, he insisted in meeting for dinner next weekend to hear how her first week on the job for her father's, or rather _her_ company had gone.

As she lay there she started thinking back over the day's events. In particular her meeting with Ebon. It was luck that she had come across him. With the event's leading up to her tour she had completely forgotten Neon's comments to her in the sensitivity class the week before.

She had been on the SDC tour, she was accompanying a regular tour group though the facility. They were coming to the end of the tour, a quick view of the mines. The workers happened to be changing shifts, miners from deeper in the quarry were coming up. Each group was flanked by burly guys with weapons, bearing badges the read SDS "Schnee Defence & Security".

Suddenly a tall man turned and looked at her as he passed, she was startled to notice he was missing an eye. When he saw her he started yelling, breaking from the line and running towards her shouting "COME DOWN HERE TO SEE YOUR PETS IN ACTION?! You filthy brat, think your better then us do you!". One of the SDS men ran over, he looked like he was about to hit the man with the butt of his weapon, however noticing the tour group he pulled up and merely nudged the man roughly on the shoulder. "GET BACK TO YOUR CREW" The tour guide had stopped and said to the man "Don't you know who you're speaking too?! If you were wise you would hold your tongue!", "Oh I know exactly who she is" The man said "The next Schnee scum. How dare you show you face down here little girl". The guard spoke "Ebon….IN LINE….NOW!" he said, grabbing the man and yanking him back toward the line. Suddenly it hit her, Ebon, this was Neon's brother! The one with the missing eye!

"This way everyone! I apologise for the disturbance, the workers are often eager to let off steam after a long day's work" said the guide, trying to get her tour back on track. "Go on ahead" Weiss told the tour guide "I'll catch up later".

She hurried back along the path the miners we receding up. When she caught up with them. Ebon was in the back, being roughly shoved forward by the SDS man who had pulled him away earlier. She walked towards them purposefully "I would like a word with you". She pointed at Ebon. "Excuse me," she said to the SDS "do you think we could find somewhere a little less, public, to have our chat?". "Uhh, sure, this way. Come on faunus!" The man whom Weiss had now determined was guarding the miners, rather than protecting them led them to a storage room set against the stone face. "I'll take it from here thank you" Weiss said, speaking to the SDS man, "I'm sure you have other matters to attend to". "Uhh, you sure Ms. Schnee? This one is a bit of a handful.", "I can handle myself just fine. Now if you'll excuse us I would like to have our talk in private….Thank you.". As the guard retreated down the corridor she turned to look at Ebon. He was covered in dirt and grime, his face showed a look of resentment edged with a trace of fear. He had ears, like a fox with fir that was a very deep brown shade, she couldn't tell if it was natural or a result of the dirt and grime that was matting his fir.


	3. Chapter 2

He spoke first "So why did to want to talk to me Schnee?" He said her name with a sneer.

"I want to listen to your story Mr. Katt."

"'I haven't been called 'Mr' in a while. And what do you mean by 'my story'?" The look of confusion now clear on his face.

"Your story. I met your sister, she told…"

"Neon? You saw her? Is she alright?"

"Yes, I met her at my school. She is a very competent Huntress. Her team nearly beat us in the tournament."

"Huh, she always was a fighter."

"Anyway, as I was saying, she told me if I ever met you I should listen to your story, she said it's what she would do….So let's hear it."

"Really...huh...Well I guess she would say that. When Neon was little I used come home and tell her stories about my day. I would make them up to be stories of a grand adventurer. I'd embellish the details of course. I'm not really sure why I did it, I guess I just liked to see her smile. She used to get this look on her face, her eyes would get huge and she would ask me all sorts of questions. Anyway, I suppose that's what she meant...If only she knew the truth behind those stories."

"So what was the truth behind your grand adventures?"

"The truth? Hah, the truth was I would try and take odd jobs around town to buy food. I have always been fairly good with my hands, and I'm a quick learner, but not many people want a faunus working around them, especially a one eyed faunus"

"If you don't mind me asking how did you lose your eye." Weiss asked...She had been glancing at his ears as he spoke, she had always wondered what faunus ears felt like. Whenever Blake showed hers they always looked so soft.

"Jade & Neon were out in the woods playing, they got lost and frightened. Their fear must have attracted a Beowolf. I found them, told them to run towards home. I tried to scare it off, but it took a swipe at me. I survived, my eye didn't.

"Hold on, who is Jade?"

"Oh, Jade was our little brother. Neon would always tell him my stories, I think she often added her own 'improvements'." Ebon chuckled "He was wilder than Neon. Got himself in to plenty to trouble when he got older."

"What happened to him?" Weiss ask hesitantly.

"He got mixed up in the White Fang. They were raiding a Schnee dust transport, they didn't know it but your father had hired a mercenary group to defend the transport due to the recent attacks. From what I understand almost no one made it back."

"I'm...really sorry." Weiss said, taken aback.

"Well I guess it wasn't really your fault. I told him getting mixed up with the Fang was a bad idea, but he was fighting for what he believed in. Can't fault him for that. Neon took it the hardest, they were really close."

"So how did you end up working here?"

"We were going to lose our house. I had spent my savings getting Neon into school. I took out a loan from your father's company. I didn't have the money to pay it back, but they said if I came to work for them I could work my way out of debt."

"Neon said she hadn't seen you in quite a while. How much longer are you going to be here?"

"I'll be lucky if I'm ever able to leave. We have to live on-site for 'efficiency' they deduct our food and living expenses out of our paycheck, after that I barely make enough to make the minimum payments on my loan and send a little extra to Neon to help her with school."

"How can they do that! That's not employment, that's slavery. Why don't you just leave?"

"Some have tried, once they leave they can't find work. Schnee corp has contacts everywhere, any business who hires them starts having shipments go missing, and sudden strings of burglaries. Then they get letters telling them things will get worse until they fire them. So they have no choice but to come back to work in the mines."

"I'm sorry, the Schnee name used to mean something, something besides corruption and duplicity."

"So fix it" Ebon said

"I promise, I'll do my best." Said Weiss


	4. Chapter 3

Weiss leaned over to her nightstand and grabbed her scroll. She dialed up Blake's number, she needed to talk to a friend right now. Also she needed to do something long overdue. 'Please pick up, please pick up'...

"Hello? Weiss? Are you ok?"

"Hey Blake, sorry I'm calling so late, I just needed to talk to a friend"

"Oh, it's fine, I was up anyway. Whats up?"

"First I need to apologise. I'm sorry I ever looked down on you for being a Faunus, I'm sorry for my snide remarks and jokes at your expense. Today I got a full glance into how Schnee's have treated Faunus and I don't blame you for hating the Schnee name. What we have done is despicable. I'm sorry I didn't ask sooner, but can you ever forgive me?"

"...Weiss, I forgave you years ago."

"Thank you Blake, I appreciate that. I'm so overwhelmed right now, how do I do it? How do I fix the years of damage the Schnee name has done? How do I run this company? How do I make our name great again, and not a symbol of hate & greed?"

"Weiss, earlier you said you don't blame me for hating the name Schnee. But I don't hate the name Schnee, not anymore. I no longer associate that name with the corrupt company. To me a Schnee is a loyal friend, someone that takes the right path even if it is the harder one, someone who is there for her friends, strong and proud, but who is also humble and trustworthy. You did that Weiss, you made the Schnee name mean that to me, and you can do it again. I won't lie, it's not going to be easy, but you never feared what was hard Weiss."

Weiss sniffed, poorly attempting to keep the emotion from showing in her voice. "Thank you Blake, It means a lot to know you have faith in me, in the Schnee name still."

"..."

"Hey Blake, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Uh, sure I guess?"

"This might sound weird, and feel free to say no! I promise I'll never bring it up again….It's just that...I was wondering...Can I...I mean next time we hang out...can I please touch your ears? They just look sooo soft and I have always wanted to touch them!"

Blake's stifled laughter comes over Weiss scroll

"No OMG I'm sorry, forget I said that! Oh I hope this is a dream, I'm sooo sorry."

Still laughing "No, Weiss it's fine." giggles "Of course you can touch them"

"Really?! Thanks! And Blake?"

"...yes?"

"Thanks again, I'm really glad we were teammates"

"Me too Weiss"

"Goodnight Blake"

"G'night Weiss"

She thought about it for a moment, she knew what she would do. She knew now how to start to make her name great again. She had another call to make before she would sleep:

"Umm, Ms. Schnee, are you sure about this?" the voice on the other end of the line was saying.

"Yes, I'm very sure, please see that it is done."

"Of course Ms. Schnee, everything will be ready for you in the morning."

"Thank you"

The next morning Weiss woke up early, before sunrise. She pulled out a torn pair of jeans and threw on an old Chieve shirt. She pushed her head into a ball cap and pulled her hair out the back. She pushed her feet into pair of work boots that had been delivered earlier that morning. She dressed and made her way to the meeting location.

When she arrived outside the entrance to the mines she waved to Ebon, he was there with his crew of fellow Faunus laborers. Ebon was looking her over, as if sizing her up. Apparently satisfied for the time being he spoke:

"Denim suits you Ms. Schnee"

"Thank you Mr. Katt"

"I'm warning you, it's dangerous down there, do you still think this wise?"

"Well I can't very well ask my employees to do a job I am unwilling to do myself now can I? I know I'm new and technically your employer, so I just wanted to make it clear that you're in charge here Mr. Katt. You say jump, I ask how high. I work for you this week."

"Understood" Ebon's face was one of cautious admiration.

"Oh, and as you're now a supervisor you will of course be receiving a pay raise effective immediately."

"Thank you Ms. Schnee."

"I think you have more than earned it."

"You know, I think your going to do alright running this place."

"Thank you Ebon, that means more to me then you probably know. Now then, lead the way, I don't want to be late on my first day!"


	5. Epilogue

Within 4 years Ms Schnee revolutionised the Schnee Dust Company. The equal rights job policy she implemented to allow faunus employees the chance to rise up through the ranks in the company provided they could meet and exceed the standards that were set for all employees resulted in faunus now holding 64% of the upper management positions including the company's Vice President: Mr. Katt.

The same standards were responsible for trimming an excess of employees that had been holding unproductive positions yet using their control to prevent other candidates from being allowed a chance at higher level positions.

Once word got out that SDC was rewarding hard work, many human and faunus began applying.

Ms Schnee is also reportedly in talks with the new leader of the White Fang.


End file.
